BodyGeneral body information and techniques for restoration, repairs, and modifications.

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Broken High beam switch! How do I fix this?!

I'm not even sure if this goes into this topic or not but oh well. Help me out here people.. I cannot turn on my high beams! If I pull back on my turn signal switch, it doesn't click or anything! Sometimes if I hold it back long enough, you can see them come on and i can feel it click after a couple seconds.. but why doesn't it work all the time and right away like it's supposed to? Any ideas what's wrong and how I fix this????!!! I do a lot of night driving and it's nice to have the high beams on!

If it's not the switch, then it's probably the high-beam slider mechanism that pushes against the high beam actuator rod inside the steering column.
The high-beam slider mechanism tends to separate from the actuator rod making the high-beams inoperative when using the turn-signal lever.

The only way to fix this, that I know of, is to take apart the steering column to access the high-beam slider mechanism/part and re-attach it back on the high-beam actuator rod. The slider mechanism/part is made out of ABS(?) plastic and has a molded-in groove where the metal high-beam actuator rod rests against. Use a large dab of grease here to help keep it from falling off when you re-assemble the steering column back together again.

Goodluck!

-Mike

__________________ "Ain't he EVER gonna put that car back together again?"

Hey thanks for the advice. I just had a question though. You said to take apart the steering column. My friend told me that I probably wouldn't be able to do that because of the airbag.. What do I do about that? I dont really feel like getting any broken bones while I'm doing this. Any ideas or suggestions? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

3. Remove lower dash "hush panel" under the steering column to expose the yellow wire air-bag connector hanging underneath. It may be clipped on the steering column support bracket. Big fat yellow wire with a warning tag around it.

4. Disconnect the yellow wire air-bag connector. The connector will have some "safety" pins on it that you'll have to pull out in order disconnect it.

5. Wait about 10-min. This gives the DERM module a chance to "power down" any residual energy it might still have from being connected to the 12V battery source.

6. Get a Torx bit and loosen the 4 screws at the back of the steering wheel. As you loosen the screws, gently pull on the air-bag part until it comes off. The screws will have small retainers to keep them from falling off.

5. Gently pull out the air-bag from the steering wheel and disconnect the big fat yellow wire connector at the back.

6. Disconnect the horn connector that goes in through the back of the steering wheel to release the air-bag assembly completely off the steering wheel.

7. Remove air-bag and store it face-up in a safe place.

8. Remove steering wheel

If you've worked on steering columns before, the rest should be relatively easy like any other (non air-bag) GM steering column.

Hope this helps!

-Mike

__________________ "Ain't he EVER gonna put that car back together again?"

RB83L69 had it right from the start. All you have to do is loosen the two nuts that hold the steering column to the dash, then loosen and readjust the switch located on the top side of the steering column down closer to the pedals. Mine took me less than 15 minutes to fix and has been working great ever since.

I don't know who's right or who's wrong. The proper repair depends on the nature of the problem. Is it a HB switch adjustment problem? Or a disconnected/broken HB actuator/mechanism problem? Or a little of both?

Actually, in my case, the same type of problem occured twice in two different cars of the same make and model. Both were '91 Camaro Z28s. Unfortunately, I had to go into the steering column fix it. Dang, I never have it easy. LOL!

The actuator/mechanism that I'm referring to is just a 1.5-inch plastic piece that connects the turn-signal lever pivot mechanism to the high-beam selector-switch rod inside the steering column. The 1.5-inch plastic part tends to fall off the HB switch rod.

If you have one that gets wedged between the steering column ignition-lock rack and the back of the turn-signal switch pivot assembly, like I did, you will have to go into in the column to fix it. At least when you're "inside", you can tighten all the screws nice and tight. Use Loctite on them. The "red" type. Those screws inside the steering column sure get real loose over 10-years time.

I believe the added weight of the air-bag equipped steering-wheel puts a huge amount of stress on the fasteners inside the column. Since many if not all the fasteners are the same "crap" quality as the lighter non air-bag equipped GM steering-wheel columns, the fasteners tend to get loose much more quickly over the years. When that happens, it's time to go inside tighten everything up like it should be before you get anymore problems.

You won't believe how "nice" the steering wheel/tilt column will feel after you tighten everything up inside especially the turn-signal lever.

-Mike

__________________ "Ain't he EVER gonna put that car back together again?"